All-Star Activists

by Zarah Patriana

Published February 16, 2009 @ 03:16AM PT

It was All-Star weekend in the NBA. Highlights included the Slam-Dunk Contest, the very first game of All-Star H.O.R.S.E., Shaquille O'Neal dancing with the JabbaWockeeZ and of course the ultimate highlight for me was the victory of Team West (sorry LeBron).

This All-Star action got me thinking about the powerful platform these atheletes have to advocate for a particular cause they care about. I went searching the interwebs for a list of activist athletes and came up with this Grist list of Green Sports Stars. Yao Ming speaks out for endangered species, Kelly Slater wants healthy oceans and lucha libre wrestler El Hijo del Santo is fighting to protect the whales. But where are the big-star atheletes out there advocating for Fair Trade or the Sweatfree movement?

This seems like a perfect place for athletes to get on their soapbox and encourage the production of Fair Trade and sweatfree sports equipment. It exists. Fair Trade Sports provides sports balls that are stiched by adult workers getting a fair wage are working under safe conditions. On top of that, the balls are eco-certified and use fairly traded rubber. How great would it be to see Nate Robinson slam dunking a Fair Trade basketball? But, Fair Trade sports equipment has yet to really tap into the mainstream.

The closest thing I found to a big-star athlete advocating for sustainable sports was Steve Nash's "Trash Talk" basketball shoe made out of manufacturing waste. A sustainable shoe made from Nike can be a bit questionable because you can never be too sure about their labor standards, but this shoe seems to be a big stride in advocating for change.

Perhaps, it is exactly Nike's questionable labor standards that is most likely preventing big-star athletes from speaking out against sweatshops and in favor of Fair Trade/Sweatfree. These people have endorsement contracts to think about. Prime example of this is when Cleveland Cavalier, Ira Newble spoke out against the genocide in Darfur. He wrote a letter to Chinese president, Hu Jintao to intervene in the conflict in Sudan and enlisted the rest of his Cleveland Cavaliers team to sign on to the letter as well. However, there was one teammate that was noticeably absent in signing the letter and that was basketball superstar, LeBron James who most likely did not join in because of his lucrative endorsement contract with Nike, who invests heavily in China. New York Times calls it the "modern athlete’s contractual servitude to corporations" which "typically impedes the development of a conscience".

Where are the Muhammad Ali's refusing to fight unjust wars? Where are the John Carloses and Tommie Smiths raising their black-gloved fists in the air? Has the corporate sports world stifled the voice of activists athletes? Where are the athletes tackling the hard hitting issues out there?

Not that I'm saying that there is a lack of big-name athletes out there standing on their soapbox advocating for what they believe in. I mean, Joey Cheek gave up his Olympic chances to speak up for his beliefs. Nor am I saying that advocating for endangered species and healing the bay aren't real, important issues.  I would just like to see some superstar athletes out there take the risk and use their influence and celebrity to take a stand for issues of child labor, poverty and inhumane working conditions that are often employed when manufacturing the sports ball used in each game. These balls are symbols of the game and they are being manufactured by their corporate sponsors and by not speaking out against them, it is somewhat encouraging unfair treatment to continue.  It's fair play to let their influence and celebrity to advocate for social justice and what better place to ask for social justice than in the manufacturing of their own sports equipment. Don't let the powers that be keep you off your soapbox.

To find out more about Fair Trade Sports, check out their blog and look at all the gear that they offer that are sweatfree, Fair Trade and eco-certified.